Linux Mint Forums

Posted: **Sat May 14, 2011 5:43 pm**

I have two 200GB hard drives in my computer. Sometime ago I installed LMDE (32bit) on one - I think /dev/sdb. On /dev/sda at the time was LinuxMint Isadora.

When the 64bit LMDE was released, I installed it in the place of Isadora.

I have now downloaded LinuxMint-xfce and want to install it to the hard drive on which the 32bit LMDE is installed.

It seems a simple task, doesn't it? However, I thought I would do a few checks first.

Start up Manager shows that LMDEx64 is installed on /dev/sda. However, quite disturbingly, it doesn't show the LMDEx32 installation as an alternative boot option!

Looking at FileSystem /etc/fstab I see:

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FileSystem /etc/fstab
# /etc/fstab: static file system information.
#
# Use 'vol_id --uuid' to print the universally unique identifier for a
# device; this may be used with UUID= as a more robust way to name devices
# that works even if disks are added and removed. See fstab(5).
#
# <file system> <mount point>   <type>  <options>       <dump>  <pass>
proc            /proc           proc    defaults        0       0
# / was on /dev/sda1 during installation
UUID=385ecae6-bd34-41c3-a524-974b8cd6d17f /               ext3    errors=remount-ro 0       1
# swap was on /dev/sda2 during installation
UUID=c6876978-438f-4a1e-ae53-dacdf22d1e4a none            swap    sw              0       0
/dev/scd0       /media/cdrom0   udf,iso9660 user,noauto     0       0
proc	/proc	proc	nodev,noexec,nosuid	0	0
# /dev/sda4	swap	swap	sw	0	0
UUID=ba348924-3cad-464e-bd76-5a6b8c36541e	swap	swap	sw	0	0
# /dev/sda1	/boot	ext2	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0
UUID=7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728	/boot	ext2	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0
# /dev/sda2	/	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0
UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936	/	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0
# /dev/sda3	/home	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0
UUID=ee833a68-1d3d-41d6-ac2b-0947fd884163	/home	ext4	rw,errors=remount-ro	0	0

which is in line with what Startup Manager shows.

But when I have a look in FileSystem - System Information - Filesystems, I see

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FileSystem - System Information - Filesystems
/dev/sb2  /
/dev/sdb1 /boot
/dev/sdb3 /home

with /Home using 28.7GiB of 168.4GiB and I have to ask myself: Why is it showing /dev/sdb

I then decided to go further and have a look at the installation through the eyes of GParted. This shows

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/dev/sda  (183.31 BiB

/dev/sda1  ext4 94.00 MiB boot Used 25.46 MiB
/dev/sda2 extended 186.22 GiB
/dev/sda5   linux-swap 3.72 GiB 
/dev/sda6 ext4 18.62 GiB  Used 6.43 GiB
/dev/sda7 ext4 163.87 GiB Used 20.13 GiB

which should be the LMDEx64 installation and

Code: Select all

/dev/sdb (183.31 GiB)

/dev/sdb1 ext2 /boot 101.94 MiB Used 31.65 MiB
/dev/sdb2 ext4 / 14.65 GiB Used 7.51 GiB
/dev/sdb3 ext4 /home 171.06GB Used 22.84 GiB
unallocated 6.16 MiB
/dev/sdb4 linux-swap 506.00 MiB

So which hard drive contains LMDEx64?. I would hazard a guess that FileSystem - System Information - Filesystems is reporting incorrectly but can I be certain of this? I would hate to install LinuxMint-xfce on the drive that contains my current opersting system.

Any insights from those more knowledgeable than I would be very much appreciated, please?

Posted: **Sat May 14, 2011 9:00 pm**

on root terminal, check output of
os-prober

Posted: **Sun May 15, 2011 2:25 am**

Hi!

Thanks for the hep. Your suggstion gives:

Code: Select all

zed@zed ~ $ sudo os-prober
[sudo] password for zed: 
/dev/sda6:Linux Mint Debian Edition (1):LinuxMint:linux

so I assume that that is the x64 edition of LMDE. If that is so, I'll install LinumMint-xfce on /dev/sdb

Posted: **Sun May 15, 2011 3:50 am**

@tenfoot
Sorry I forgot to tell you to do this with Live CD.
your terminal output said you have LMDE at /dev/sda6.
however if you did os-prober by running on OS that is installed on hard disk, then it wuold not show up on os-prober.

In order to check all your installed OS, try using this lenghty script to find all grubs on all your partitions and MBR and see what the terminal output look like.

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sudo fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | egrep "Disk /|/dev/" | sed "s#^/dev/#Part /dev/#" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/://' | xargs -n1 -IX sudo sh -c "hexdump -v -s 0x80 -n  2 -e '2/1 \"%x\" \"\\n\"' X | xargs -n1 -IY sh -c \"case  \"Y\" in '48b4') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.96 ;; 'aa75' | '5272') echo X: GRUB Legacy ;; '7c3c') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher ;; *) echo X: No GRUB Y ;; esac\""

also please do sudo fdisk -l to check all your hard disk partition.

Posted: **Sun May 15, 2011 8:41 pm**

OK. here we go. As I wasn't certain whether to go from my normal OS. or from a Live CD, I did both.

From a normal boot:

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zed@zed ~ $ sudo fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | egrep "Disk /|/dev/" | sed "s#^/dev/#Part /dev/#" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/://' | xargs -n1 -IX sudo sh -c "hexdump -v -s 0x80 -n  2 -e '2/1 \"%x\" \"\\n\"' X | xargs -n1 -IY sh -c \"case  \"Y\" in '48b4') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.96 ;; 'aa75' | '5272') echo X: GRUB Legacy ;; '7c3c') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher ;; *) echo X: No GRUB Y ;; esac\""
[sudo] password for zed: 

/dev/sda: No GRUB 020
/dev/sda1: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher
/dev/sda2: No GRUB fc1
/dev/sda5: No GRUB 00
/dev/sda6: No GRUB 00
/dev/sda7: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdb: No GRUB 020
/dev/sdb1: No GRUB 020
/dev/sdb2: No GRUB 020
/dev/sdb3: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdb4: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdc: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher
/dev/sdc1: No GRUB 8cd
zed@zed ~ $

From a Live CD

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mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l 2>/dev/null | egrep "Disk /|/dev/" | sed "s#^/dev/#Part /dev/#" | awk '{print $2}' | sed 's/://' | xargs -n1 -IX sudo sh -c "hexdump -v -s 0x80 -n  2 -e '2/1 \"%x\" \"\\n\"' X | xargs -n1 -IY sh -c \"case  \"Y\" in '48b4') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.96 ;; 'aa75' | '5272') echo X: GRUB Legacy ;; '7c3c') echo X: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher ;; *) echo X: No GRUB Y ;; esac\""
/dev/sda: No GRUB 020
/dev/sda1: No GRUB 020
/dev/sda2: No GRUB 020
/dev/sda3: No GRUB 00
/dev/sda4: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdb: No GRUB 020
/dev/sdb1: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher
/dev/sdb2: No GRUB fc1
/dev/sdb5: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdb6: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdb7: No GRUB 00
/dev/sdc: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher
/dev/sdc1: No GRUB 8cd
/dev/sdd: GRUB 2 v1.97 or higher
/dev/sdd1: No GRUB b6d1
mint@mint ~ $

sudoi fdisk -l

From a normal boot:

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zed@zed ~ $ sudo fdisk -l 
[sudo] password for zed: 

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69205244

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1   *           1          13       96256   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sda2              13       24322   195262465    5  Extended
/dev/sda5              13         499     3905536   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sda6             499        2930    19529728   83  Linux
/dev/sda7            2931       24322   171825152   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcfd3cfd3

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1               1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sdb2              14        1925    15358140   83  Linux
/dev/sdb3            1926       24256   179373757+  83  Linux
/dev/sdb4           24257       24322      518144   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31008336 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 63 * 512 = 32256 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0018ad04

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           2    31008256   976760032+   7  HPFS/NTFS
 
Booting from a Live CD

Result from Live CD
mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcfd3cfd3

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda2              14        1925    15358140   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            1926       24256   179373757+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4           24257       24322      518144   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69205244

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          13       96256   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2              13       24322   195262465    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5              13         499     3905536   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6             499        2930    19529728   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7            2931       24322   171825152   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31008336 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 63 * 512 = 32256 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0018ad04

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           2    31008256   976760032+   7  HPFS/NTFS
mint@mint ~ $ [code]

[code] mint@mint ~ $ sudo fdisk -l

Disk /dev/sda: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0xcfd3cfd3

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sda1               1          13      104391   83  Linux
/dev/sda2              14        1925    15358140   83  Linux
/dev/sda3            1926       24256   179373757+  83  Linux
/dev/sda4           24257       24322      518144   82  Linux swap / Solaris

Disk /dev/sdb: 200.0 GB, 200049647616 bytes
255 heads, 63 sectors/track, 24321 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 16065 * 512 = 8225280 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x69205244

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdb1   *           1          13       96256   83  Linux
Partition 1 does not end on cylinder boundary.
/dev/sdb2              13       24322   195262465    5  Extended
/dev/sdb5              13         499     3905536   82  Linux swap / Solaris
/dev/sdb6             499        2930    19529728   83  Linux
/dev/sdb7            2931       24322   171825152   83  Linux

Disk /dev/sdc: 1000.2 GB, 1000204886016 bytes
1 heads, 63 sectors/track, 31008336 cylinders
Units = cylinders of 63 * 512 = 32256 bytes
Sector size (logical/physical): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
I/O size (minimum/optimal): 512 bytes / 512 bytes
Disk identifier: 0x0018ad04

   Device Boot      Start         End      Blocks   Id  System
/dev/sdc1   *           2    31008256   976760032+   7  HPFS/NTFS
mint@mint ~ $

Hope you can make something of this because I can't

Posted: **Sun May 15, 2011 9:54 pm**

Well,
you knew your system.

from the data, there are situation I do not understand but can guess only, just guess

lets summarise the data

1. when you run Live CD, fdisk saw 3 hard disks, the grub finding script saw 4 disks ( one sdd appeared)
may be there is one USB flash inserted during Live CD run?

2. when you run cd,
sda 200g, sda1,2,3,4, no grub in MBR
sdb 200g, sdb1,2,5,6,6, no grub in MBR
sdc 1000g, sdc1, grub2 in MBR
sdd, not seen by fdisk, but seen by script with grub2 in MBR.

yet when you run normal boot, I presume it is hard disk installed os ,
sda 200g, sda1,2,5,6,7, no grub in MBR
sdb 200g, sdb 1,2,3,4, no grub in MBR
sdc 1000g, sdc1, grub2 in MBR

so, here I do not understand the fourth disk, so I guess you might be using usb flash as 'Live CD' but still there is inconsistent in fdisk not reporting sdd while script found grub2 on sdd.
anyway as you normally would run OS from hard disk installation I guess I can just rule out this sdd for time being

your data also show when "live CD' is run the kernel report sda and sdb in opposite as the normal boot, this is one inconsistency too, I am not sure what is meant, but guess that you have a mixture of SATA and PATA drives on these sda and sdb. I had those issue before when I mix SATA and PATA drive, however you knew your system best and would know if these two 200G drives are both SATA, both PATA or 1 SATA + 1 PATA. My guess is you have 1 SATA + 1 PATA

next is, this one is very consistent, third drive, sdc, and this one has grub2 installed on MBR!.
so I would guess that

3. You have three hard disks, remember external USB hard disk attached is also seen by the Linux kernel/os
4. Your installed grub2 is on third hard disk because the script showed grub2 install on its MBR
5. You have set your BIOS to have boot order such that 1000G drive is the 'first boot drive'.

In order to 'probe' a little closer, now you could just boot from your normal ( hard disk), then open terminal, print out the grub config file to check what it reports, it should tell you which one was being used to boot your installed OS. hopefully. but please do not insert any additional USB drive/flash as it would confuse the data

cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg

then do a fdisk -l to countercheck that there are three hard disks and with the same order as before.

Posted: **Tue May 17, 2011 11:51 pm**

Thank you for your continued patience. It is very much appreciated.

To answer the points your raise.

1. Yes there are three hard disks: 2 x 200GB and 1 x 1TB Seagate USB external drive.

2. I have no idea what the sdd not seen by script with grub2 in MBR refers to. Apart from the three internal and one external Hard drive, I have 2 x DV/CD drives and 1x floppy drive.

3. Yes

4. That is the external USB Seagate. It is formatted NTFS.

5. No. Boot sequence is set to CD, HD, FD

cat /boot/grub/grub.cfg gives

Code: Select all

# DO NOT EDIT THIS FILE
#
# It is automatically generated by grub-mkconfig using templates
# from /etc/grub.d and settings from /etc/default/grub
#

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/00_header ###
if [ -s $prefix/grubenv ]; then
  load_env
fi
set default="0"
if [ "${prev_saved_entry}" ]; then
  set saved_entry="${prev_saved_entry}"
  save_env saved_entry
  set prev_saved_entry=
  save_env prev_saved_entry
  set boot_once=true
fi

function savedefault {
  if [ -z "${boot_once}" ]; then
    saved_entry="${chosen}"
    save_env saved_entry
  fi
}

function load_video {
  insmod vbe
  insmod vga
  insmod video_bochs
  insmod video_cirrus
}

insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos2)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936
if loadfont /usr/share/grub/unicode.pf2 ; then
  set gfxmode=640x480
  load_video
  insmod gfxterm
fi
terminal_output gfxterm
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
set locale_dir=($root)/grub/locale
set lang=en_NZ
insmod gettext
set timeout=5
### END /etc/grub.d/00_header ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
insmod png
if background_image /grub/linuxmint.png; then
  true
else
  set menu_color_normal=cyan/blue
  set menu_color_highlight=white/blue
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/05_debian_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
insmod png
if background_image /grub/linuxmint.png ; then
  set color_normal=white/black
  set color_highlight=white/light-gray
else
  set menu_color_normal=white/black
  set menu_color_highlight=white/light-gray
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/06_mint_theme ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
}
menuentry 'LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
}
menuentry 'LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro  quiet
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
menuentry 'LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (recovery mode)' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	echo	'Loading Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 ...'
	linux	/vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro single 
	echo	'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
	initrd	/initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###
### END /etc/grub.d/20_linux_xen ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###
menuentry "LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	linux /vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro quiet
	initrd /initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
}
menuentry "LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	linux /vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro single
	initrd /initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64
}
menuentry "LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro quiet
	initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
menuentry "LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.32-5-amd64 (recovery mode) (on /dev/sda6)" --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
	insmod part_msdos
	insmod ext2
	set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
	search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
	linux /vmlinuz-2.6.32-5-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro single
	initrd /initrd.img-2.6.32-5-amd64
}
### END /etc/grub.d/30_os-prober ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###
# This file provides an easy way to add custom menu entries.  Simply type the
# menu entries you want to add after this comment.  Be careful not to change
# the 'exec tail' line above.
### END /etc/grub.d/40_custom ###

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###
if [ -f  $prefix/custom.cfg ]; then
  source $prefix/custom.cfg;
fi
### END /etc/grub.d/41_custom ###

Comment: The entry copied below refers to the latest kernel version for LMDE and to /dev/sdb as root.

### BEGIN /etc/grub.d/10_linux ###
menuentry 'LinuxMint GNU/Linux, with Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64' --class linuxmint --class gnu-linux --class gnu --class os {
insmod part_msdos
insmod ext2
set root='(/dev/sdb,msdos1)'
search --no-floppy --fs-uuid --set=root 7426a5a6-11e7-401a-a9e1-6f7177d5a728
echo 'Loading Linux 2.6.38-2-amd64 ...'
linux /vmlinuz-2.6.38-2-amd64 root=UUID=43f10de6-5b24-4343-8cff-50e412ec3936 ro quiet
echo 'Loading initial ramdisk ...'
initrd /initrd.img-2.6.38-2-amd64

Further down, entries refer to kernel version 2.6.32-5, which I think is the x32bit version of LMDE.

I had a look at my set-up through the Disk Utiity facility and report as follows:

The first disk shown is at /dev./sda1 It has a PATA Host Adapter and is shown Not Mounted. Is this the x32bit LMDE?

The second disk is shown as /dev/sdb. It has a SATA Host Adapter and the Mount Point is shown as Mounted at /boot. Is this the HD containing my current x64 LMDE.

The Seagate 1.0 TB external drive is shown as a Peripheral usb device and the Mount Point is Mounted at /boot.

Given how far I have progressed with your assistance should I feel confident that I can install LinuxMint-xfce on dev/sda?

Posted: **Wed May 18, 2011 4:47 am**

Further down, entries refer to kernel version 2.6.32-5, which I think is the x32bit version of LMDE.

No, from your grub config file, all are amd64 or 64-bit kernel
there is no 32 bit kernel. this is consistent with your start up manager, which might just be linked to grub

I had a look at my set-up through the Disk Utiity facility and report as follows:

The first disk shown is at /dev./sda1 It has a PATA Host Adapter and is shown Not Mounted. Is this the x32bit LMDE?

The second disk is shown as /dev/sdb. It has a SATA Host Adapter and the Mount Point is shown as Mounted at /boot. Is this the HD containing my current x64 LMDE.

On terminal, use command mount to check first line, it tells which partition is running the OS

The Seagate 1.0 TB external drive is shown as a Peripheral usb device and the Mount Point is Mounted at /boot.

Earlier boot scripts data showed this Seagate drive is the only one having Grub2 installed and you mention
5. No. Boot sequence is set to CD, HD, FD

Please get into bios setup and check HD boot order, within Bios setup menu, you should see all hard disk detected by Bios, first line is first boot hard drive, second and third lines for second and third boot drive.
Please check and confirm what you see.
Also check if Seagate 1TB drive is inside HD or part of USB.
This information is important to check if Bios boot order is the same as Kernel order ( /dev/sda, /sdb , /sdc)

Given how far I have progressed with your assistance should I feel confident that I can install LinuxMint-xfce on dev/sda?

Well, I hope your hardware can give consistency between Bios boot order and kernel drive order.
or else there could be boot problem. That means on every reboot Bios see the same boot order for three hard disk and kernel see the SAME boot order also.

At this point I have not yet understood if your hardware would be inconsistent when you put two OS on two drives , one is PATA and another is SATA.

I had it before on my amd-64 computer with 1xPATA and 2XSATA drives multiboot with windows and many Linux OS. After spending few weeks on all kinds of boot issue, eventually I took out PATA drive and gain back some sanity. No longer have any boot issue for all OSes ( many of them)

Something else to consider:
6. it seems you install grub2 on Seagate external USB drive.
This means your computer must always have this drive plugged in, else it wont boot.
Hopefully this is what you want.

7. Not sure how far you want to investigate on your 'lost LDMEx32 installation'.

Here I would provide one possible method, use RIPLinux as bootable disk and find the LMDE 32x installation manual by going thru all possible partitions.

download RIPLinux , burn iso image to make bootable CD, then boot your computer using the CD, when it booted up it show a simple screen, as shown ( new version might vary a bit)
http://linuxsysconfig.com/2009/02/rip-linux/
then scroll down to reach a place that read (something like below, cannot remember)
Boot partition of 64-bit at /dev/xxxx or
Boot partition of 32-bit at /dev/xxxx
Then hit tab key, a line shows up, change xxxx to your desired partition number, says
sda1, sda6, sdb1 , sdb6 etc
you will be able to boot up LMDE 64 for sure,
and hopefully by selecting the possible /boot partition you would find where is your 32x bit LMDE.

Posted: **Tue May 24, 2011 5:01 pm**

Firstly, please accept my apologies for the late reply. Unfortunately, real life gets in the way of my preferences, at times. We are in the process of selling our house, which takes up an inordinate amount of time, with associated stress levels running high.

wayne128 wrote:No, from your grub config file, all are amd64 or 64-bit kernel
there is no 32 bit kernel. this is consistent with your start up manager, which might just be linked to grub

Ah! I see - I think

On terminal, use command mount to check first line, it tells which partition is running the OS

zed@zed ~ $ mount
/dev/sdb2 on / type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
tmpfs on /lib/init/rw type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,mode=0755)
proc on /proc type proc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
sysfs on /sys type sysfs (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
udev on /dev type tmpfs (rw,mode=0755)
tmpfs on /dev/shm type tmpfs (rw,nosuid,nodev)
devpts on /dev/pts type devpts (rw,noexec,nosuid,gid=5,mode=620)
/dev/sdb1 on /boot type ext2 (rw,errors=remount-ro)
/dev/sdb3 on /home type ext4 (rw,errors=remount-ro,commit=0)
fusectl on /sys/fs/fuse/connections type fusectl (rw)
binfmt_misc on /proc/sys/fs/binfmt_misc type binfmt_misc (rw,noexec,nosuid,nodev)
cgroup on /dev/cgroup/cpu type cgroup (rw,cpu)
/dev/sdc1 on /media/Expansion Drive type fuseblk (rw,nosuid,nodev,allow_other,blksize=4096,default_permissions)
zed@zed ~ $

Please get into bios setup and check HD boot order, within Bios setup menu, you should see all hard disk detected by Bios, first line is first boot hard drive, second and third lines for second and third boot drive.
Please check and confirm what you see.
Also check if Seagate 1TB drive is inside HD or part of USB.
This information is important to check if Bios boot order is the same as Kernel order ( /dev/sda, /sdb , /sdc

Here is the result but see remarks further down, which is a possible answer "Why?"

Boot sequence:
Removable
CDROM
Hard Disk

HD Drives
1. 1st Master ST3200822A
2. 4th Master SATA-M ST3200822AS
3. Bootable Add-in cards

The Seagate 1.0 TB external drive is shown as a Peripheral usb device and the Mount Point is Mounted at /boot.

Well, I hope your hardware can give consistency between Bios boot order and kernel drive order.
or else there could be boot problem. That means on every reboot Bios see the same boot order for three hard disk and kernel see the SAME boot order also.

At this point I have not yet understood if your hardware would be inconsistent when you put two OS on two drives , one is PATA and another is SATA.

I had it before on my amd-64 computer with 1xPATA and 2XSATA drives multiboot with windows and many Linux OS. After spending few weeks on all kinds of boot issue, eventually I took out PATA drive and gain back some sanity. No longer have any boot issue for all OSes ( many of them)

Something else to consider:
6. it seems you install grub2 on Seagate external USB drive.
This means your computer must always have this drive plugged in, else it wont boot.
Hopefully this is what you want.

No! I've been giving a great deal of thought to this. After I installed LMDE there were, of course, numerous upgrades. One of these concerned /boot and Grub2. From memory, a message appeared to the effect that I could install Grub2 on ... (and it listed all my drives, including the removable usb drive). It advised me that if I wasn't certain, there would be no harm in installing to ALL drives.

7. Not sure how far you want to investigate on your 'lost LDMEx32 installation'.

Here I would provide one possible method, use RIPLinux as bootable disk and find the LMDE 32x installation manual by going thru all possible partitions.

download RIPLinux , burn iso image to make bootable CD, then boot your computer using the CD, when it booted up it show a simple screen, as shown ( new version might vary a bit)
http://linuxsysconfig.com/2009/02/rip-linux/
then scroll down to reach a place that read (something like below, cannot remember)
Boot partition of 64-bit at /dev/xxxx or
Boot partition of 32-bit at /dev/xxxx
Then hit tab key, a line shows up, change xxxx to your desired partition number, says
sda1, sda6, sdb1 , sdb6 etc
you will be able to boot up LMDE 64 for sure,
and hopefully by selecting the possible /boot partition you would find where is your 32x bit LMDE.

Thank you for the suggestion. I have downloaded RIPLinux and will have a look at it. However, I think I may "flag away" trying to determine where LMDE x32bit is and when Clem issues the new LMDE snapshot DVD I'll reformat both drives and start again. This time, though, I will ensure that LMDE x64 is on /sda .

One last request for assistance in this long running saga: Bearing in mind that the second disk is shown as /dev/sdb. It has a SATA Host Adapter and the Mount Point is shown as Mounted at /boot, what steps am I able to take to remove the Grub2 option from the usb drive and ensure that the machine boots from /sdb? Is it simple or am I opening another "can of worms"?

Again, Wayne, thank you very much for your patience and assistance.

Posted: **Wed May 25, 2011 5:00 am**

tenfoot wrote:Firstly, please accept my apologies for the late reply. Unfortunately, real life gets in the way of my preferences, at times. We are in the process of selling our house, which takes up an inordinate amount of time, with associated stress levels running high.

No problem for 'late reply'.
Life related stuff should take top priority, computer is just a tool.
Hope your process is progressing well and best of luck.

Here is the result but see remarks further down, which is a possible answer "Why?"

Boot sequence:
Removable, CDROM, Hard Disk (
HD Drives
1. 1st Master ST3200822A
2. 4th Master SATA-M ST3200822AS
3. Bootable Add-in cards

The Seagate 1.0 TB external drive is shown as a Peripheral usb device and the Mount Point is Mounted at /boot.

These data confirm BIOS pass control to Removable (Seagate 1TB) and this one had the first part of Grub.

6. it seems you install grub2 on Seagate external USB drive.
This means your computer must always have this drive plugged in, else it wont boot.
Hopefully this is what you want.

No! I've been giving a great deal of thought to this. After I installed LMDE there were, of course, numerous upgrades. One of these concerned /boot and Grub2. From memory, a message appeared to the effect that I could install Grub2 on ... (and it listed all my drives, including the removable usb drive). It advised me that if I wasn't certain, there would be no harm in installing to ALL drives.

Sound like that was the issue, I cannot remember the installing to ALL drive, for me, I have since practise, and always install any boot loader to root partition for all OS except the one controlling my MBR. This way I have no problem dealing with 20-30 over OS, any breakage on one OS, the rest are intact.

Thank you for the suggestion. I have downloaded RIPLinux and will have a look at it. However, I think I may "flag away" trying to determine where LMDE x32bit is and when Clem issues the new LMDE snapshot DVD I'll reformat both drives and start again. This time, though, I will ensure that LMDE x64 is on /sda .

Actually no point to spend time or burn brain cell to find that old installation.
Focus on getting new installation right and put grub at the place you understood.
Only need to learn the method to reinstall grub when something break.

As you have determine next time to reformat both drive and start fresh install, it is more worthwhile for you remember it is easier to have grub installed on first boot drive for simplicity reason as BIOS always pass control over to first boot drive.

One last request for assistance in this long running saga: Bearing in mind that the second disk is shown as /dev/sdb. It has a SATA Host Adapter and the Mount Point is shown as Mounted at /boot, what steps am I able to take to remove the Grub2 option from the usb drive and ensure that the machine boots from /sdb? Is it simple or am I opening another "can of worms"?

I think there is no need to remove grub2 from USB drive (Seagate 1TB), because to me this is the backup should your attempt to install grub elsewhere run into boot trouble.
Plug usb drive in you can boot again .

One simple test to do is unplug USB drive, reboot, this should give you trouble booting because grub was no longer available and BIOS will hand over to pata drive, the script info earlier said no grub in pata drive, however thing can be surprise!. Who knows, may be pata still has grub in its MBR and boot to the missing OS? pleasant surprise.

To install grub at another drive
will that be another can of worm? haha, most likely No, here is my suggestions:
1. Do not change BIOS boot order
2. Unplug USB drive , keep the grub residing in USb drive intact, as it was working and continue to work on booting existing OS.
3. if your experiment using grub2 document (below) get into some hiccup, just plug in USB drive, it will boot , back to old method.

To make computer boots without USB drive , simple follow grub2 documentation instruction at step 13 of this link
https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

and install grub to the first boot drive, or in your case, pata drive, /dev/sda.
as your boot partition for OS is in second drive, you should mount boot partition of second drive and use that as the root.

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